New Pornographers

Twin Cinema was my first taste of them and I liked it quite a bit - enough to get AC Newman's solo effort.I also love the Wolf Parade album. I kinda sluffed them off as another Pitchfork overhyped band, but then came back to the album and now enjoy it quite a bit. Looking forward to their new album this year.

Outta nowhere, New Pornographers have a new album, Together. I learned about it from Amazon, of all places. Saw it was out just last Tuesday, May 4th, and I ordered it (it was only $7.99, very reasonable). But... I was disappointed. Let's just say it's no Challengers. Or Twin Cinema. Whereas I thought Challengers was a step up from even Twin Cinema, and one of the best of 2007, this is just average.

A trademark of their music is jarring, go-nowhere pop that never peaks, only plateaus, with a unique pattern that is equally likely to enrapture you as it is to grate on your nerves. While there are no bad tracks, and the first four are pleasant enough, it takes until number 12, We End Up Together, for anything memorable to occur. And it is very memorable, one of my faves in their whole catalog. Silver Jenny Dollar is annoyingly amicable, if such a thing is possible. Your Hands (Together) and Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk are two of the other standouts. But 6-11? Filler.

Bumping 'cause hey, maybe someone else will like it more than I do (not to say I don't, just that I expected more. On to Wolf Parade's Expo '86 (and an outta-place thanks to the Now Playing thread for the heads-up)!

I actually really liked this record, but now it's starting to feel a little worn. Moves, Crash Years, Silver Jenny Dollar, and Up in the Dark are the stand outs. The others are slowly sounding less and less memorable, but I still really enjoyed it. And yeah, Challengers is still better than this. I think the people who thought it was slow or boring just because it's very different will now realize it was actually a very nice change of pace and a good step for them artistically. Together reminds me a bit more of Mass Romantic in it's sort of likeable mediocrity. But, I have to say, Dan Bejar's songs are actually good for once (I typically can't fucking stand him). It's safe to say any new album will never be no Twin Cinema.

One song is available for sample at that link, and it is really well done, I think. Shades of their older stuff, but a good mix feels of all NP eras. I'm excited, and I like the art. That's always been the case with them, though.